About us

It all started for us one spring Saturday afternoon in 2014, I came across YouTube video for the tiny house movement, just down the road from us in Oregon. Later that day I showed it to Lori. We thought that could be a great way to simplify life. After watching a few more tiny house videos, it got us to thinking about our own wants and needs in life. We did enjoy watching them, but found ourselves not liking most of the floor plans that where being offered. Lori and I have had our fair share of injuries to back and knees that we decided that there would no way for us to use a loft bed. Another thing that deterred us was the overall cost involved and the time it would take to get this project off the ground, and into our new home and because this is something new where do you park your house once it is completed. RV parks won’t let them in and it not a camper so hmmm….

After that we found ourselves talking about all the options we came to a conclusion on October 2014. We decided to move out of our rental home and into a RV full time. Prior to this we had zero experience with RV’s and spent many hours on YouTube and online RV forums gathering information and getting ideas on what to do next. We spent about a month scouring RV lots and Craigslist looking for that Mobile Home (RV) that made us feel the most comfortable in. We spent numerous hours looking at all types of RV’s, some good and many not so good (extensive water damage, in Washington State no way). We recommend that you use one of the many online check lists available via the internet before and when you are buying a new or used RV. That will help you get you started in the right direction. When all was said and done on November 8, 2014 we both agreed to go with a 37 foot 1988 Fleetwood limited with low miles and a great interior with all the comforts of home.

Why The RV you ask:

All of our 6 children had moved out and have moved on to their own lives.

Got tired of paying for someone else mortgage.

Not needing a 3 bedroom house and hate the idea of an apartment living.

Never having money to do the things that we wanted to enjoy in life.

No more yard work, shoveling snow or that neighbor that wants to rev up his 1960’s something soaped up car engine on Sunday morning promptly at 8 am.

We have grandchildren in 3 different states and if they can’t come to our house then we will take our house to them and have a lot of stories to tell them about our grand adventures later…

Don’t forget the 4th of July parties that send our 3 Doxies into cardiac arrest that starts a week before and almost as long after.

And the best for last we love to travel. I spent 20 years my life in the Military and have seen a lot of the places, but never had the time to just sit back and really enjoy a place without having to be somewhere else in a hurry. Stating I will hit that the next time I’m back this way.

Some call us crazy, most ask why, the only thing I can say in response is that we needed to right size our lives together to maximize our time together and we do not see owning a house as a means to doing so.

One of the first things we did after buying our new home on wheel was to become a member of the Sam Goody club at the time they were offering a 2 years for the price of 1 year and also got us a discount at all the camping worlds across the nation.

We also signed up for AAA services in case we need to get our RV towed. You will have to do your own home work as to what services you will need and purchase them according to your specific needs.

One of the hardest parts of moving into an RV can be downsizing all your stuff. We were transitioning from a 3 bedroom house and we have collected over 40 plus years’ worth of stuff we needed to find a new homes for. We started with our family, letting them come and get items that they could use or wanted. Then we took a lot of knickknacks and bag after bag of clothes and furniture to goodwill, sold other items on craigslist and gave away any extra food items to a local food banks. WOW, did we have a lot of stuff. Don’t expect for this to all happen overnight. We got lucky and parked our RV on the lawn at our rental property giving us the ability to move things over a little at a time. Take in a few clothes then bring in more, only to discover that you had to look at them all over again and ended up making another “It’s got to go pile.” Looking back at it now we made more piles and then lost track of what the piles were. It was hard to get rid of it all but in the long run well worth it.

Remember:

We came to this conclusion for many reasons but this is a list of the reasons that come to mind:

Please keep in mind that “This is our dream” and something that we have spent many hours discussing and planning. Our decisions good bad or indifferent and this is what has worked for us, and what works for us may not work for you. You have to find our own dream and follow your heart to come up with what works best for you.

Another place that gave us a real hard time was the kitchen. We had all the pampered chief items that Lori loved and did not want to part with any of them at first. Pots and pans, utensils, place servings and even the knifes forks and spoons, you get the idea. We went from having a total of 6 kids and at any given time we had three of them with us plus at time ½ the football or baseball teams would show up after practice. Needless to say, we had enough for a small army of people to eat with us. All of it had to be cut down to a level of just 2 of us. It all comes down to what you have space for and the number of people that you will be catering to. Just hard to give up, that dehydrator that only got used to make jerky in the winter months and as the craigslist add stated my loss is your gain.

We also looked into bus conversions. Finding the right bus with low miles and in good working order that has not sat for months to year on end could be a challenge all in its self. With an RV you are ready to move in and hit the road as soon as you get your keys. I like a good challenge, but Lori was never too impressed and again the cost and time it would take was not something that we decided would be in our best interest.